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Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Historic Endorsement for Hillary Clinton

There is only one serious candidate on the presidential ballot in November. We recommend Hillary Clinton.

We
don't come to this decision easily. This newspaper has not recommended a
Democrat for the nation's highest office since before World War II — if
you're counting, that's more than 75 years and nearly 20 elections. The
party's over-reliance on government and regulation to remedy the
country's ills is at odds with our belief in private-sector ingenuity
and innovation. Our values are more about individual liberty, free
markets and a strong national defense.

We've been critical of
Clinton's handling of certain issues in the past. But unlike Donald
Trump, Hillary Clinton has experience in actual governance, a record of
service and a willingness to delve into real policy.

In
Clinton's eight years in the U.S. Senate, she displayed reach and
influence in foreign affairs. Though conservatives like to paint her as
nakedly partisan, on Capitol Hill she gained respect from Republicans
for working across the aisle: Two-thirds of her bills had GOP
co-sponsors and included common ground with some of Congress' most
conservative lawmakers.

As President Barack Obama's first
secretary of state, she helped make tough calls on the Middle East and
the complex struggle against radical Islamic terrorism. It's no accident
that hundreds of Republican foreign policy hands back Clinton. She also
has the support of dozens of top advisers from previous Republican
administrations, including Henry Paulson, John Negroponte, Richard
Armitage and Brent Scowcroft. Also on this list is Jim Glassman, the
founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas.

Clinton
has remained dogged by questions about her honesty, her willingness to
shade the truth. Her use of a private email server while secretary of
state is a clear example of poor judgment. She should take additional
steps to divorce allegations of influence peddling from the Clinton
Foundation. And she must be more forthright with the public by holding
news conferences, as opposed to relying on a shield of carefully
scripted appearances and speeches.

Those are real shortcomings.
But they pale in comparison to the litany of evils some opponents accuse
her of. Treason? Murder? Her being cleared of crimes by investigation
after investigation has no effect on these political hyenas; they refuse
to see anything but conspiracies and cover-ups.

We reject the
politics of personal destruction. Clinton has made mistakes and
displayed bad judgment, but her errors are plainly in a different
universe than her opponent's.
Trump's values are hostile to
conservatism. He plays on fear — exploiting base instincts of
xenophobia, racism and misogyny — to bring out the worst in all of us,
rather than the best. His serial shifts on fundamental issues reveal an
astounding absence of preparedness. And his improvisational insults and
midnight tweets exhibit a dangerous lack of judgment and impulse
control.

After nearly four decades in the public spotlight, 25 of
them on the national stage, Clinton is a known quantity. For all her
warts, she is the candidate more likely to keep our nation safe, to
protect American ideals and to work across the aisle to uphold the vital
domestic institutions that rely on a competent, experienced president.

Hillary
Clinton has spent years in the trenches doing the hard work needed to
prepare herself to lead our nation. In this race, at this time, she
deserves your vote. (full story at Dallas Morning News)